As you can gather from yesterday's shot, I have a new computer. That means reinstalling every piece of software on it, and if I have to type one more sodding 25 character code, accept one more licence agreement, click on one more Next button, reboot one more time... As you can imagine I can barely bring myself to look at a computer screen at the moment, so my time on my usual web sites this evening will be pretty close to zero.

This morning began around 6.30 with a trip to the only place that I could find in Sydney which had Windows Home Premium to Ultimate upgrades in stock, way out west in Wetherill Park. The Officeworks there opens at 7am and I wanted to get there as close to that as possible to avoid as much traffic as possible. It still took about 2 hours with the extra long range drop tanks attached to the car.

There's a fair amount of population growth out that way, and I suspect that shopping centres like the Greenway Supa Centre are intending to cash in on that. Nonetheless they're not exactly welcoming; vast tracts of concrete surrounding what are still, for the most part, empty barn-like structures. At the moment there are only four or five spaces filled; the Officeworks of course, a Fernwood For Women gym off in the distance, and a furniture barn off on the left. Other than that, it's a pretty barren sight.

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Edit January 2024: Wow, THIS was nostalgia, and not in a good way.

24 August, 1995. I was down at a long forgotten and closed software store in Sydney to get a copy of Windows 95 on its release date.

OK, not so forgotten now... Software Express, 1 Bligh Street. I just found the receipt. That business hit the wall in early 1999, with the then managing director saying "it was unable to continue trading on returns of 'around 12 per cent'.

'We do not see how we can continue with such narrow returns,' Boot's statement read, before moving on to say software has increasingly become commoditised and is sold like a 'packet of cornflakes'."

Which is true, but also... not true.

For at that time, software was on either floppy disks or new! shiny! CD-ROMs! and wrapped in a cardboard box. Most of the time it was the only way you could get software.

BUT.

This trip here? This was the LAST time I ever bought software on physical media, save for when a copy came with a physical system purchase. Fraudband, as we used to call it, was finally reaching usable speeds and while streaming was still a distant dream, it became possible to download all the software you want at a rate that was fast enough. Also software companies were ditching 25 character CD keys for being able to validate ownership online, making reinstalling a much less painful process.

The good old days where I had to do trips like this.... I sure don't miss 'em. I do somewhat miss going and browsing at some of the old software stores - like Software Express - where there were stacks of boxes along the wall promising productivity, entertainment or both. But the reality is that Cornflakes do need to be in a box.

In 2024, software doesn't.

Greenway is still there; it has dropped the "Supa Centre" part of its name which did seem to be a bit low rent, but it's there. So is the Officeworks. At this point though I doubt I'll ever see either of them again.